India batsmen tune up for chin music
STIFF CHALLENGE With a lush Newlands pitch awaiting them, Kohli’s boys train to handle the extra bounce
balls at batsmen from almost the middle of the pitch.
The idea was to get batsmen learn either to evade or get on top of the rising delivery. Meanwhile, India continued to work on Shikhar Dhawan’s fitness. He batted for a long time and so did third opener KL Rahul. Virat Kohli looked fluent at nets, focusing particularly on playing a left-arm spinner keeping in mind South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj. Out in the centre, India’s pacers kept going at the batsmen with coach Ravi Shastri parked just behind them. Each batting stint was recorded from the umpire’s end for dissection later.
The talk of leaving a bit of ‘juice’ in the pitch was getting stronger by the day but South Africa could be walking a tightrope if that actually happens. Had it been even a few years back, South Africa wouldn’t have had any problem choosing to bat after winning the toss.
India’s seam bowling depth this time though shouldn’t make it an easy decision. South Africa coach Ottis Gibson too said they would decide according to the overhead conditions.
Moreover, South Africa come into this series looking slightly underworked and underprepared, having played just a twoTest series against Bangladesh in October before the mismatch of a four-day Boxing Day Test against Zimbabwe in Port Elizabeth.
From India’s perspective, playing Sri Lanka in a drab series didn’t serve any real purpose too but since Gibson doesn’t expect the Newlands pitch to change much, Virat’s team would now be trying to draw insight from the Eden Gardens Test more than ever.